460 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Of the two whales passed in the cold water on Sept. 3rd, only 

 the blowing of one was seen ; the other was only about forty feet 

 long, so they may have been Humpbacks. In my summer voyage 

 to Spitzbergen in 1881 (Zool. 1882) I saw no whales as far to the 

 north as this. 



I was told, at third hand, of a Blue Whale which measured 

 102 ft., and similar stories are numerous ; but I doubt if the 

 whales were in any case accurately measured. Dr. Guldberg 

 does not believe it ever attains a length of 100 ft. ; a little over 

 80 ft. is, I believe, the longest that has been at all accurately 

 measured at Vardo, and whales of this length are the exception. 

 Dr. Guldberg ('Vardo Posten,' Sept. 2nd, 1883) says of this 

 species: — "Its length varies between 70 and 80 ft.; the indi- 

 viduals that are 70 ft. and under, I have always found to be 

 rather young, and not full-grown. That it can attain to a length 

 of over 80 ft. is certainly unquestionable, although it may be very 

 seldom. But the numerous measurements which have been 

 taken of various individuals are not trustworthy, since they are 

 not measured in a right line from the point of the under jaw to 



the cleft in the tail fin The most characteristic feature 



to recognise it by when one sees it in the water, besides the high 

 spout and conspicuous size, is the extremely small dorsal fin 

 which is situated so far back. The colour above is blue-grey or 

 blue-black, and sometimes copper-brown when it is seen rolling 

 about in the sea. The dead whale* has always a more or less 

 pronounced blue-grey or steel-grey dark colour over the back, 

 which on the sides becomes a little lighter, with, over all, 

 peculiar slightly striped marks of a lighter grey, which often lie 

 in small shallow pits, which give the surface of the skin an 

 uneven appearance. Under the belly, and especially forward 

 near the throat, it is more or less flecked with white, with some 

 parts alternating with grey or blacker shades. It has always a 

 more or less marbled appearance, which in some specimens 

 present very pretty patterns. The baleen-plates are black or 

 grey-black, with black-brown hair. 



•■■■ Ou this change of colour after death in cetaceans, vide Dr. J. Mm-ie, 

 ' On the Organization of the Caaing Whale,' Trans. Zool. Soc, vol. viii., 

 p. 239 ; and Prof. Turner's account of the present species in Trans. Roy. Soc. 

 Edinb., 1870, p. 203. 



